I love how the tour guides, artists and homeowners share their stories and gave a different perspective to this space of transience and opposition.

— @juliannechua, on OH! Potong Pasir (2016)

WHAT MAKES OH! SPECIAL?

We’re art and heritage experience-specialists. Nobody does tours like we do. Art exhibitions can leave audiences feeling disconnected – art-speak can be intimidating; or else people use art as selfie backdrops. In this sense, heritage walking tours can connect visitors much better with the neighbourhood. What differentiates us is that you don’t just learn, you experience through the art and the stories. It literally is the art of storytelling.

MISSION

OH! started in 2009 as an art walk that brought art out of museums and galleries. It evolved from there, challenging perceptions about where art can and cannot exist. The 2010 edition, OH! Marine Parade, put art in HDB flats, in which 80% of Singaporeans live. It proved that art can have a place in all of our lives.

By 2014, OH! had grown beyond an art walk into a non-profit art organisation. Our programmes do 3 important things:

Give local artists opportunities to experiment with site specificity — to unlock or even give new meanings to our everyday spaces

Challenge audiences to think deeper about the immediate environment they inhabit, and the larger context of Singapore

Today, OH! redefines everyday spaces through art by challenging artists to create new work responding directly to an existing space – a specific neighbourhood, or history, or even a home.

BOARD MEMBERS

OLIVER BETTINChairperson

Oliver is a Managing Director and Head of Asset Financing Asia with Deutsche Bank, where he has worked for the past 15 years in various positions across Trading and Risk Management in London, Geneva, New York and Singapore.

ALAN OEIMember and Executive Director

Alan is an artist-curator whose work and projects examine the intersection of art history and politics. He has organised Blackout (2009) and Campaign City (2013), and curated Ghost: The Body at the Turn of the Century (2013), an exhibition about artists using the body as a form of political resistance.

LISA ROBINSMember

Lisa is the head of transaction banking at Standard Chartered. Her international banking career spans over 25 years working across Europe, the USA, and Asia. Lisa is ranked as one of Top 20 Women in Finance by Finance Asia in 2011.

PHILIP MORGANMember

Philip started his career in radio features reporting at UK’s BBC before becoming the Controller of Operations for the world’s first entirely digital direct-to-home satellite TV service. Later, he did consulting and production work with a Government of Singapore Research Institute and subsequently join one of its video software ventures as its Chief Operating Officer.

TAN KHENG HUAMember

Kheng is an award-winning actor and producer in Singapore, with a career spanning more than 25 years. She produced Singapore’s most successful original musical cabaret act The Dim Sum Dollies® from 2004-2007. Her most recent local project of note is The SIN-PEN Colony, a mini Singapore festival within The George Town Festival 2014.

RANDY CHANMember

Randy is one of Singapore’s leading young artist-architects specialising in the convergence between art and architecture. In 2012, he collaborated with Grace Tan for a site-specific installation at the Substation as part of Singapore Art Museum’s The Singapore Show: Future Proof. Randy currently also sits on the board of theatre company W!LD RICE.

MANAGEMENT TEAM

LIM SU PEIAssistant Director

Su Pei has over five years of professional experience working for the arts industry. Under the umbrella of The Old Parliament House Limited, she has managed international and regional arts-business programmes held locally and across the continent in South Africa and Eastern Europe.

ALETHEIA TANCommunity Manager

Aletheia is part Community Manager, part Marketing Head and part Project Manager. She believes in exploring the world by talking to strangers. She represented Singapore as a youth ambassador for the 38th Ship for Southeast Asia and Japan Youth Programme. Graduated from NUS FASS, majored in Sociology.

KIRTI BHASKAR UPADHYAYAAssistant Curator

Kirti recently graduated with a degree in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. She loves sharing her art adventures via social media. She has helped manage digital communications for the East Wing Biennial in London and launched the website for her university’s Student Union and paper.

OH! Open House was a recipient of the National Arts Council Seed Grant (2014-2017).OH! Open House is now a Major Company (2017-2020).

About the National Arts Council

The National Arts Council champions the arts in Singapore. By nurturing creative excellence and supporting broad audience engagement, we want to develop a distinctive global city for the arts. With a nod to tradition and an eye to the future, we cultivate accomplished artists and vibrant companies. Our support for the arts is comprehensive – from grants and partnerships to industry facilitation and arts housing. The Council welcomes greater private and corporate giving to and through the arts so that together we can make the arts an integral part of everyone’s lives. For more information on the Council’s mission and plans, please visit www.nac.gov.sg.